Armstrong had 29 points and 11 assists and took over down the
stretch, rallying the Orlando Magic to a 103-99 victory over the
Vancouver Grizzlies.

McGrady served the second of his two-game suspension for a fight
with Sacramento's Bobby Jackson, leaving the Magic without their
leading scorer and only player who demands a double-team.

"It's fun when somebody goes out and the team just rises to the
occasion," said Armstrong, who made 10-of-15 shots.

In the absence of the All-Star swingman, Armstrong took over in
the final five minutes. He had five points and two assists in
an 11-0 surge that gave Orlando a 96-91 lead, then answered a
3-pointer by Mike Bibby with one of his own with 41 seconds to
play.

Magic rookie Mike Miller had a clutch jumper and two free throws
in the final 16 seconds. Miller also stepped up in McGrady's
absence, scoring 23 points after contributing 18 in Wednesday's
win at Cleveland.

Damon Jones scored a career-high 21 points for the Grizzlies,
who fell to 0-3 on their eight-game road trip. Vancouver has
dropped seven straight meetings with Orlando.

"This loss is real tough, because we felt like we had control of
the game for 42 minutes," Jones said. "We failed to execute
down the stretch. We did not execute on the defensive end,
either."

The Grizzlies held a 78-74 lead after three quarters and built
it to 91-85 with 4:50 left on a basket by Shareef Abdur-Rahim,
who scored 17 points. Armstrong fed Michael Doleac for a jumper
less than a minute later to trigger the decisive run.

He added two free throws and Outlaw made one before Armstrong
found Miller for a 3-pointer and a 93-91 lead with 2:15 to play.

Mike Bibby was called for charging with 1:35 to go and received
a technical foul for arguing the call. Armstrong made the foul
shot, then drove for a layup 16 seconds later to cap the burst.

Bibby answered with a 3-pointer, but Armstrong beat the shot
clock with one of his own.

"I just wanted to come back here tonight and show the fans what
I'm made of," said Armstrong, who felt he played poorly in the
loss to Sacramento. "We all have ups and downs. ... Me and my
teammates, we played our tails off. We just worked hard and got
this win."

After Abdur-Rahim drove for a three-point play to make it 99-97
with 35 seconds left, Miller took a pass from Armstrong and made
a 16-footer for a four-point lead. Jones made two free throws
but so did Miller to seal it.